how could anyone bitch about our style of play right now? mayyyybe… mayyyybe one could criticize our boob, but everything else is off the chart. maybe the ad campaigns knew something we didn’t when they wrote “this is our time,” but then again they probably got lucky.

… I can’t express how proud I am of this team. It’s almost as if they’ve transformed their fan base, at least they have done that to me and those I’m close to, and they’ve done something historic and wonderful so far. But they are only halfway home. There’s still more hockey to play and there are still strong teams to beat. It gets even tougher now.

Dutch – I often share the same sentiment as you. My favorite quote from last night was Kevin Weekes on NHL Tonight. “You can’t eat when you’re full.” The Kings are still hungry, and they aren’t done yet. I give Sutter a lot of credit for the change in mindset and perspective.

I can’t believe (inter)national analysts are backing the Kings now. Part of me wants to tell them they aren’t welcome here.

“I give Sutter a lot of credit for the change in mindset and perspective.”

… I think the mindset and perspective has come almost completely from the players themselves. Guys like Brown, Doughty, and Quick have been denied the last two years. Kopitar certainly has something to prove after missing the playoffs last year. Scuderi, Richards, Williams – they’ve been there before. The guys like King, Nolan, Voynov and Martinez are trying to prove they simply belong in the NHL.

I just believe the Kings are, simply put, a damned fine hockey club right now. They’re balanced with youth and experience, they have a good blend of size and skill, they’re balanced on their lines and defensive pairings, they’re no strangers to physical play, and they have strong goaltending. That’s just a great mix. The different points of view, different levels of experience, different perspectives – all coming together.

They were due for a run. They hadn’t had a real run all season, and they’re simply getting hot now – at just the right time. How many different Kings scored goals in the four game series? Ten? Fifteen different Kings have scored goals in the nine postseason games. For any team, that would be terrific. For a team that’s known for their defense, a team that finished 29th in goals per game … that’s unbelievable. Mind-boggling.

Sutter deserves credit for a change in vision; a vision of an active defense instead of a passive one. But, a vision’s just a vision if it’s only in the mind. The Kings’ players have executed it beautifully. Playing active defense, pursuit defense, is risky. It requires a balanced team, a team that can roll over four lines, because it’s exhausting to play. It requires players who instinctively know the best options and routes to take defensively. The reward of a well-executed active defense is that the opposition has to risk getting beat in transition if they try to create offense in the middle of the ice. Notice that the Blues’ offense was exclusively coming off the wing. That’s not surprising.

When Murray coached the Kings, the team didn’t have the personnel in place to play this way. They had to sag back because there wasn’t enough balance up front for the opposition to respect a counterattack in transition. Opponents could attack with impunity, and wear on the Kings’ top players physically and mentally. It’s impossible to overstate how different the personnel is now compared to what it was in November. Not taking anything away from Sutter, but the Kings are just that damned good right now.

Completely agree with you except the part about Murray. IMO, Murray didn’t have what it takes to light any passion under these guys. By his own admission he didn’t see his role as a motivator which is what Sutter is able to do. Agreed that the players have to take it in but as a young group of players they were looking for someone to lead the team and to show them how to do that. Brown in particular is learning and stepped up big time.

But this team was due for a run and hopefully they continue through for 8 more wins!

“ Murray didn’t have what it takes to light any passion under these guys. By his own admission he didn’t see his role as a motivator which is what Sutter is able to do”

… I remember talking about this very thing a while back. I’ll just re-post that.

“I’d also go so far as to say that Murray’s approach of “I’m gonna treat these guys as men, as professionals, and stress execution more than motivation” worked better with some guys than Sutter’s “I’ll make it MY business to motivate them” approach. Not everyone on the team has the same personality. Some tactics and approaches work better for certain guys than they do for others. I don’t believe there is a right way to do things, here. Answers are going to vary.”

I’ll add that I don’t feel ANY player needs to be motivated when it comes to the Stanley Cup playoffs. Every young hockey player has two dreams. One is to play in the NHL, and the other is winning the Stanley Cup. We all have those same dreams. The players on the Kings’ team know what’s at stake. They don’t need anyone to tell them.

Remember, Murray has taken a team to the Stanley Cup Final before, just as Sutter has.

As for Dustin Brown, he’s always been a helluva player. This is just who he is.

It’s not about motivated in the traditional sense of getting players to try hard. It’s about focusing their energies and getting them to all be in sync with each other. Tempering emotions at the right time and guiding attentions. It’s a joint effort by team leadership and coaching, but Sutter absolutely deserves some, not all, credit for this.

So you give Sutter zero credit for this run? Sorry to exaggerate but I thought I was being pretty even handed with my assessment, and you disagree with even that.

Did you see the group of quotes about 3 days ago from Hammond, where several players talked specifically about the emotional effect and psychological difference Sutter made for them over Murray?

But we can agree to disagree. I don’t disagree at all with your point that the players are so much more mature now and are making it happen from that experience and quiet desperation built up from the last few years, but I think that is just part of this, that Sutter was needed to bring it all together and aim the gun that the players are firing.

… I think that with certain players he has brought a welcome change in attitude and approaching the game. I don’t want to make it seem as if I’m giving him no credit whatsoever; that’s not fair to him and that’s not how I feel about it. I do prefer a hands-on, one to one head coach – I liked Larry Robinson for being that way, in fact. Sutter has his positives. I just stop short of saying he’s the guy who brought it all together. I think the fact that this team is balanced and talented, combined with the feeling in my mind that they were due for a run have been more determining factors in the team’s success.

Didn’t get to say hi to Surly and Scribe but was sitting close enough to see Scribe have a near coronary when Quick had to reach behind him to make a save in the 3rd. Awesome game. 4th line was bitchin yet again. Bring on the 3 seed! Set ‘em up and knock ‘em down baby!

Four hours later and I’ve finally caught my breath. I’m stuck in Nevada for last two games with my newborn godchildren who just got out of the icu so their mother forbid me from yelling so I’ve been doing Buster Keaton silent air punches and Hellen Keller spazations.

First place team was handled.
Second place team was flat out controlled.
Third place team is gonna book an early tee time very soon.

I, being of relatively sound mind and rapidly degrading body, do hereby authorize my heirs and kin to bury me in my full goalie equipment if the Kings win 8 more becauses since Hell will freeze over and since I’m goin’ there without a doubt, I might as well be ready for a couple of quick pick-up games with a bunch of my buddies…

This is awesome, Swedish newspapers are asking: wo can stop the Kings? Obviously, the Swedish National Team are very happy because they have a chance to add Backlund and Steen to an already filled Swedish All Star Team for the WC. By the way: Moller is not part of this Swedish Team.

I got to hand it to the Kings franchise for today’s first class pre-game entertainment and get the crowd frenzy stuff going today. I arrived there at 10:30 and 11th street was already rocking and rolling with exuberant and excited fans that were already dancing and partying in the street. You could feel the electricity in the air that the Kings were not going to be denied, as the fans were just not going to let that happen on their watch today.

I paid particular close up attention to the Blues warming up, and I could see in their faces that there were abnormal nerves and tension and stiffness to their routines.

Elliott was way to fidgety and jerky in the warm ups in ways that did not look positive to me. I sensed that the Blues were not pumped and jacked up to save their butts today.

I was saying to myself that the Blues were basically body language messaging as follows: “we are just glad to have made it to the second rounds, thanks, and see ya later attitude”.

During the game, and in spite of the close score, I felt very much at ease that the Kings were going to put this one in the bag, since let’s face it, I don’t know how it looked on TV, but, the Blues were just not showing their typical speed and passing prowess, along with their defenders just being too much unsupported and pressurized for so many long stretches in all three periods.

What blew me away was the last 2 minutes of the game, as the entire crowd were on their feet and spinning the towels with the decibels shaking the place as an earthquake. It felt like a wind chamber in the arena.

in those last two minutes, I readily noticed the Blues were then losing any kind of play organization and coordination basically as if they were all strangers to each other and never played a game before together. To me, the game was over at the 18 minute mark.

That was proof positive to me that the crowd rattled the Blues at the end to make sure they were impotent and buried no matter what.

So, what a great combination working now together, the team, franchise, stadium, and fans, all getting the job done top of class.

Lastly, Bob and Jim’s outside 11th St. post game show was so loud and raucous, I wonder how they could even talk and get the show accomplished at all.

I know, It was a Fan Fest for sure. Free Soda’s, Free Golf Balls, Free Candy, geeez. And meeting Bob Miller getting his auto and taking a picture with him was a thrill of a lifetime. Walking to the car a winner was the most important thing and we all got to do that huh :)

Before I forget, that open netter was the peak of the Staples earthquake where I was wondering even if the crowd was going to race out on the ice to dog pile on Kopi and Brown who were Mano o Mano tumbling around on the ice.
I was thinking what a great time to call a time out by Sutter and let Kopi and Brown roll around for the whole time out. I didn’t want it to stop!

a glorious day. one that Kings fans will remember along the other great playoff victories.

NBC did a good job and moved away completely from the STL will rebound angle. they stayed for the most part 50/50 the entire game, at times favoring the Kings in their comments. this is expected though and they also earned the compliments with their play in the first two series.

the first two series were great, but they are over. its now time to rest, heal and prepare for the team. for the fans its time to rest the vocal cords, restock the frig and wait out the NSH-PHX series. for now i’m pulling for NSH to run that series out to 6 or 7 games. honestly i don’t care which team the Kings get, because i firmly believe LA can beat either of them. neither team has anything better than LA does on paper, or so far from what has been seen during the actual games to date. if anything M Smith has been more consistent than P Rinne, but that is it.

so we wait. the Kings wait. BBF waits. once the opponent is known then its back to one game at a time. nothing more, nothing less. playing 1-period at a time and 60-minutes. the Kings aren’t almost there, halfway there, or anything else. take it one shift, one period, one game at a time and don’t let this opportunity slip away. they keep playing the way they have they will be in a terrific position. the Kings have been the aggressor and set the pace for the first two series. they must continue to do this in order to keep playing….playing as far into May then June as possible.

as fans we do the same. enjoy the ride. try to remain even-keeled and at an equilibrium point. don’t get cocky and don’t get negative. think one game at a time and remain positive that our boys will win one more game, then another, then another and …….

Yesterday and into today, there has been a great deal written about the unprecedented now new record of an 8th seed knocking off the #1 and #2 seed.

Now that we can evaluate that more, it may be a number of years, maybe a decade or more, before that exact record might be broken on the basis of 8 wins in 9 games. Maybe some future 8th seed does the job with 8 out of 14 games, so that the record is still not broken. So, it could be a permanent record.

Should the Kings face the Yotes, and knock them out, the #3 seed, then, that could nail it as a permanent record.

Just saying, it is a record that could last a hell of a long time. It is something to be really proud about, no question about it.

I believe we ain’t done making History bro. Like ya said we took out No. 1 & 2 Seeds, 1st Team in NHL History to accomplish this goal. So if we get Phoenix, we have a chance to knock out consecutively the No.1, 2 & 3 Seeds, again being the 1st team in NHL History to accomplish this goal. So we can continue to make history these playoffs. And don’t get me started on if we do get by the next round, and possibly playing the Rangers No.1 Seed in the East !

All I can say is Wow, and there is nothing in this world I want more then for this to happen !